


Relocation

by SidheLives



Series: Pathfinder Chronicles [1]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Backstory, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SidheLives/pseuds/SidheLives
Summary: Alec Ryder wants to speak to his children.
Relationships: Sara Ryder & Scott Ryder
Series: Pathfinder Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852426
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Relocation

"What's Dad want this time?" Sara lit a cigarette, pulling a thick walled mug from the cabinet to ash into. Scott gave her a disapproving side eye and she shrugged flippantly. Alec had demanded they both be home that evening, but as usual hadn't provided any details outside of the order itself. Scott would say that was just the military man in him, Sara just called him an ass.

"I don't know. Didn't tell me any more than he told you. Just be home by nineteen hundred." He shrugged and settled backwards into a stool at the counter, letting his arms rest casually on its back. "You know how he is."

Sara chuckled bitterly "I sure do." She turned the stool beside his around and sat down, placing her mug to her left and flicking the ash off the tip of her cigarette into it.

"Don't be like that, Blasto. I'm sure it's important." The nickname was an old one, made up in a playground or lunchroom when they were children. Scott still dusted it off for special occasions.

Her eyes were doubtful. "To him I'm sure." She took a long drag off her cigarette.

Alec Ryder swept into the room like a typhoon, all loud stomps and hot air. "Good, you're both here." He said as he spotted them in the kitchen.

"What's up, Dad?" Scott's chipper tone made Sara feel nauseated.

She could feel her dad staring at her like the heat radiating off an engine block. "You know your mother doesn't like it when you smoke inside the house." His voice was hard and his eyes narrowed in disappointment, both things Sara was well used to.

"Where  _ is _ Mom?" She asked, side stepping his comment before taking a defiant drag.

"She had to stay at the hospital again. The doctors are running a few more tests. She should be home tomorrow." Alec's voice was all business, but both the twins could see the strain around his eyes. "We're moving. I need you to both start getting packed."

“Excuse me?”

“What? Why?” 

The twins exclaimed simultaneously and Alec put his hands up to silence their objections. “We’re moving back to Earth. I’m having movers coming in this weekend so I need you to pack up anything personal before then.”

“To Earth? What about our lives here?” Sara incredulously pushed to her feet, anger burning the edges of the words.

“Sara, I don’t think—” Scott always tried to be the peacekeeper between his twin and their father, but Sara cut him off.

“No! You’re supposed to be starting at the Academy this Fall." She looked back at Alec. "We’ve never even been to Earth.  _ This  _ is me and Scott's home. We're supposed to uproot everything because of your stupid job?"

"Your mother is dying, Sara!" Alec shouted and it was like a punch to her gut, stealing the air from her lungs. He took a shuddering breath to calm his obvious anger. “I’m resigning from my position here on the Citadel.”

Scott was on his feet. “What?” He was breathless, eyes tightening with shock and concern.

“For once in your life, think about someone other than yourself.” Alec spat at Sara.

“Dad, she’s just—”

“No. You have been defending her your entire life Scott, and it ends here.” His burning eyes turned on her again. “You’ve put your mother through enough. You need to take a good hard look at what kind of daughter you want to be in the time she has left.”

Sara felt shell shocked, eyes unfocused, her father’s words stinging welts across her skin. Deciding the conversation was over Alec turned on his heel. “I’m going back to the hospital,” was the only goodbye he offered, then he was gone.

“Hey,” Scott put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s upset, he didn’t mean it.”

She refocused on his face and scoffed. “Yes he did.” She shook off his hand and took a drag off her cigarette, the accumulated ash from the extended conversation falling onto her chest. She brushed at it half heartedly. “And he’s right.”

“Sara,”

“He is! I've always been a fuck up, Scott. For god sake, I was in the hospital two weeks ago because I can’t  _ not  _ be a fuck up.” The scars on her face and neck were still blistering red, the wounds so jagged and deep that they would never fully heal. Even once they knew she would survive, the doctors had been worried she would lose hearing in her ear permanently. She turned away from her brother, putting her hands on the countertop, breathing heavily. She was  _ not  _ going to cry. Scott didn’t seem to know what to say, silently hovering behind her. “Did he visit me?” Her voice was soft. The question had been bothering her, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

Scott was silent for a moment. “Yeah. When we got the call we all went. He sat with Mom until we knew you were out of surgery. We were all really worried."

"Well of course you and Mom were worried. Making you guys worried is basically my job." She responded bitterly.

"Dad was worried too." He leaned on the counter next to her and she looked sidelong at him. "He was. Mom was so anxious, tearing a tissue into shreds, and he took her hands and said "Don't worry Ellen. Sara is a fighter. Has been since before she was born. She'll be fine.""

Tears pricked the back of Sara's eyes and she sniffed them back, taking a final drag before grinding the butt out in the bottom of the mug. "Huh. That's something I guess." She attempted to sound apathetic. Silence stretched out between them.

"Blasto, come to the Academy with me." He suddenly took her hand in his, grinning ear to ear.

She stared at him wide eyed. "Are you crazy?"

"I'll get my acceptance transferred to a base on Earth. We can start together.”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind if you think they’ll let me in with my juvie record.”

Scott scoffed. “Your dad is Alec Ryder, golden boy of the N7 program. You really think they’re going to care about a few disturbances of the peace?”

She raised her eyebrows at him skeptically. “Minor in possession, assault, possession of stolen property, public indecency—”

He rolled his eyes, bumping his shoulder into hers. “Okay, it’s more than disturbance of the peace, but you know Dad could smooth it over and get you accepted.”

Sera chewed on her lip. Maybe the Alliance would be good for her, it would give her structure and an outlet for her aggressive tendencies, and Scott was right, their dad could get her in the Alliance despite her record and the late application. But that would mean asking him for help, the thought of which was physically painful. “Well…”

“You know,” he continued, as though reading her thoughts. “If you mentioned off hand you were interested in the possibility you probably wouldn’t even need to ask for help. Dad would be so pleased at the idea that he’d handle everything for you.”

She chuckled. “You’re probably right.” She thought of their mother again and her face fell. “Shit about mom.” She tried not to sound as devastated as she felt as she fished another cigarette from the pack in her pocket and lit it. Their mom had been sick for so long that the prognosis wasn’t a surprise, but she was still their mom. Knowing it would happen didn’t make it easier.

“Yeah.” Scott took a deep breath. “Give me one of those.”

“I thought you quit, Saint Scott.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Shut up and give me a cigarette. My mom is dying.” She did as he asked, both of them wearing grim smiles. “What do you think Earth will be like?” he asked after taking a drag.

“Probably less Turians, which my face is a fan of.” She gestured at the brilliant scars.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of Turians now.” He feigned shock.

“Just the pointy parts.”

He laughed. “So all of them then?”

She slapped his shoulder. “You can’t make fun of me. My mom is dying.” She let out a ragged breath, laugh dying on her lips. “Our mom is dying.”

Scott put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her gently. “We’ll be okay, Sara. We’ll be okay.”


End file.
